PLEASE
NOTE:
The Bob
and Carol and Ted and Alice
and Other
Side Of Midnight
Blu-rays now only available from our friends at Twilight Time, are
limited to only 3,000 copies each and can be ordered while supplies
last from the links below.

The
following dramas and melodramas have comedy, sometimes
unintentionally...

We
start with Larry Yang's Another
Shot
(2017) about a basketball player (real life star of the sport Stephon
Marbury) wants to make it as a winner in the sport and unexpectedly
gets the chance... in China! If he fails, his career is over, but if
not, who knows what the additionally good results might be. Meant as
a melodrama with some fish-out-of-water elements, the script is
shockingly dull, has some formula, this is not well directed and just
gets more and more dull with nothing new to offer.

Frankie
Faison shows up, but that does not help, nor does a turn by Loretta
Devine that has her playing the 'warm matron' we see her as on
occasion. Would someone give her a more challenging script and role?
A real miss of a film, only diehard fans of the sport or any
participant should consider bothering.

A
trailer is the only extra.

It's
the late 1960s counterculture and the time of free love and drugs
everywhere, Bob (Robert Culp) and Carol (Natalie Wood) are an average
American couple after attending a weekend 'seminar' have concluded
that open honesty and relationships are key in a happy marriage.
That having affairs and sex with others is only a physical thing and
does not mean unfaithfulness. But when Carol (happily) tell their
conservative best friends Ted (Elliott Gould) and Alice (Dyan Cannon)
of Bob's recent affair, they are confused and conflicted with their
own morals, relationships and philosophies in Paul
Mazursky's Bob and Carol
and Ted and Alice (1969).

Bob
is a film producer living in L.A. with beautiful wife and son. He
recently had an affair on the job while filming and afterwards tells
his wife about it, who then completely accepts it as perfectly normal
for her husband to continue to attract (and sleep) other women. That
it was a beautiful thing for not hiding, but telling her about it and
she loves her husband even more for it. They tell their best
friends, Ted and Alice who is shocked at first and they wonder why
Carol doesn't even consider Bob is cheating on her or divorcing him,
but they end up questioning their own marriage and if they are happy.
As time goes on, Carol also has an affair (which shocks Bob at
first), but then Bob realizes she was no different from him and it
doesn't change their love or marriage.

Meanwhile,
Ted and Alice get more and more sexually frustrated and they share
their feelings and ideas with Bob and Carol. Bob and Carol then asks
Ted and Alice to do a couple swap and join them in a foursome, saying
they love them and want to help them be happy too. After the
foursome, they walk out together and into a large diverse crowd of
people symbolizing that everyone is same and the only thing
difference is what rules/morals were holding them back.

This
was definitely a movie about the '60s about free love, a time when
females wore mini skirts and hippies were the trending pop
culture/fashion. It challenges the viewers on some of the ideas and
lifestyle of the '60s and in the end leaves it up to the audience to
decide if open sexual relationship are a positive, negative or
neutral to marriage and culture

See
more on the film below.

If
you like food, culture and drama, Delicious:
Series 3
might be a show you might want to look into. The interesting part
here is that U.K. Comedy legend Dawn French (also a longtime comedy
partner of Jennifer Saunders of Absolutely
Fabulous
fame, et al) keeping the Penrose Hotel and its reputation for fine
food alive. It works as a drama and shows French can hold back and
convince us she is her character fighting for the business with her
friend (Emilia Fox) and those who like this kind of storytelling will
want to give the show a try.

However,
I had seen little of the earlier seasons and this runs a short four
episodes. You are better off starting from the debut episode and
working your way up to here, but it might be worth it to its
audience. Obviously a hit, it is the kind of show you never see made
in the U.S., so that's a plus.

A
Behind The Scenes featurette at about 13 minutes is the only extra.

Based
on an early Sidney Sheldon book, Charles Jarrott's The
Other Side Of Midnight
(1977) is a mature, adult melodrama that is not always great and gets
as plastic as the best of them from the 1950s, but cable TV was in
its very early years and they could get away with more sex and
serious themes on the big screen then they could on TV of the time.
Such books were selling very well when people read books more often
and the desire for nighttime soap operas were about to catch up to
the new cycle of TV movies (they only arrived in the late 1960s) and
TV mini-series (that was brand new when this film went into
production) that Fox had another hit on their hands.

Set
in WWII and its aftermath, Noelle (Marie-France Pisier) had a torrid
love affair with an American soldier pilot (John Beck), but he left
her behind pregnant and alone. Now, she won't take it and even lands
up in Greece with a wealthy tycoon (Raf Vallone) as his mistress,
then Susan Sarandon shows up as the pilot's wife, apparently unaware
of Noelle.

Running
a long 166 minutes (!), I expect many might get bored or be so
shocked this ever got made that they would keep watching just to see
how they filled up the time. The film certainly looks good and it
has a solid cast, but whatever was shocking and living up to its R
rating now seems tame and almost like PG-13 material. I can see why
it had a following and was a hit (Andy Warhol enjoyed it for his own
reasons), but it plays just one level above an early Dynasty episode.
That's not an awful thing, but don't have high expectations and more
energy than usual if you take this one on.

See
more on the film below...

Finally
we have Benedict Cumberbatch playing bad in Patrick
Melrose
(2018) as a troubled man trying to resolve his past and not doing so
well. He is upper class, but not a total dolt, yet he has little
regular for anything good and is self-destructive. I can see why he
would want to do this limited series, especially after all of his
successful hero and biographical work, based on a successful series
of books.

He
is, of course, good here, but the show was on and off for me, some of
it too predictable, other parts just were ones I simply did not buy.
I think he is a great actor, though I should note his Sherlock Holmes
never worked for me either, but I can see why this has been a
critical and commercial success, so fans will want to mark it down as
a must-see work. Hugo Weaving, Blythe Danner and Jennifer Jason
Leigh (as his mother !?! I had trouble buying this too) also star.

Extras
include a surprisingly good 36-page booklet and 5-minutes Behind
The Scenes piece.

Now
for the playback quality. The 1080p 1.85 X 1 digital High Definition
image on both Bob and Midnight look great, new
exceptionally impressive video masters supplied to Twilight Time by
their respective studios. Color is impressive in both cases, you can
see the detail, depth and range of how well each film was shot. Both
images are also warm and authentic looking like a great 35mm film
print issued in its original release. They look the best of all the
releases here.

The
1080p 1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on Patrick
Melrose has some motion blur and detail issues at times that get
in the way of its presentation, but it looks good, has good color and
is stable more often than not.

That
leaves the two anamorphically enhanced DVDs with the 1.78 X 1 image
on Delicious looking as good as it can for the older format,
butt the 2.35 X 1 image on Shot is softer throughout and has
some detail and blur issues.

As
for sound, the DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 2.0 Mono lossless mixes on
both Bob
and Midnight
look are as good as can be expected for older optical monophonic
feature film releases, though our one writer was particularly
impressed with Bob.
The
DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix on Patrick
Melrose
is not badly mixed and presented, but is not the home run I expected
with some soundfield limits and just moments in each show where it is
just a bit off.

The
lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 on the Delicious
DVD set are just fine for a mostly dialogue-driven TV show, but the
lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 on Shot
is not as loud or clear as it should be, whether it is this transfer
or issues with the original soundmaster. To be on the safe side, be
careful of high playback volumes and volume switching.

Extras
on Bob
and Midnight
look
include more well-illustrated booklet on the film including
informative text and yet another excellent, underrated essays by the
great film scholar Julie Kirgo, while both discs add Isolated Music
Score tracks with select Sound Effects and Original Theatrical
Trailers. Bob
also has two feature length
audio commentary tracksL one with Film Historians Julie Kirgo and
Nick Redman (who we sadly just lost) and the other with
Director/Co-Writer Paul Mazursky, and Actors Robert Culp, Elliott
Gould & Dyan Cannon and the featurette Tales
of Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice.
Midnight
adds a feature length audio commentary track with Producer Frank
Yablans, Director Charles Jarrott, Author Sidney Sheldon, and Film
Historian Laurent Bouzereau, who does his usual excellent job of
interviewing and getting to the facts, as well as many untold
stories.

To
order the Bob
and Carol and Ted
and/or Alice
and Other Side Of Midnight
limited edition Blu-rays, buy them while supplies last at these
links: